Tokyo Olympics: host city’s record number of new coronavirus cases; storm Nepartak moves closer
- Organisers said seven new cases linked to the Games brought the total to 155, while police separately said infections among officers had reached 12
- Meanwhile, tropical storm Nepartak, which is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, has brought rain and cooler temperatures to Tokyo
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Olympic host city Tokyo on Tuesday reported a record number of coronavirus cases even as athletes continued to compete across the city on the fourth day of the Games.
Tokyo, which remains under a state of emergency, reported 2,848 daily cases on Tuesday, in line with warnings by health experts that seasonal factors, increased mobility, and the spread of variants would lead to a rebound in Covid-19 this summer.
The capital’s seven-day rolling average of cases has risen to 1,762.6 per day, up 49.4 per cent from the previous week. Compared with Tuesday last week, the daily figure increased 1,461.
Seven more people linked to the Games have tested positive for Covid-19, including two athletes from overseas, bringing the total since the start of this month to 155, organisers said on Tuesday.
The two athletes, one of whom is a Dutch tennis player, were both living in the athletes’ village. The others are three Games-related officials, one contractor and a member of the organising committee. Of the seven, five were from overseas, they said, adding 37,579 people from foreign countries had entered Japan for the games as of Sunday.